Greet the 'Noles at Doak

Jan. 7, 2014

Written by

and Karl Etters

The Florida State University football players, coaches and staff are expected to arrive back home from Pasadena, Calif., at 7:10 p.m., but fans are being asked not to head to the airport to celebrate.

The team and coaches will board buses directly from their aircraft, not proceeding through the terminal.

Fans wanting to greet the team are encouraged to be at Doak Campbell Stadium between 7:30 and 8 p.m.

Rob Wilson, assistant athletics director for public relations and media, said parking lots behind the south end zone will be open. Fans should go to the front of the Moore Athletic Center, where the Bobby Bowden statue stands.

Wilson said parking spots behind the north end zone will be blocked off.

FSU officials said there were no plans in place yet for a formal celebration.

Catching up with fans returning from California shouldn’t be hard, as the busiest period for Tallahassee Regional Airport will be the two-hour window beginning around 5 p.m. today, when fans, players, Marching Chiefs members and others begin arriving back in Tallahassee.

Jim Durwin, superintendent of airport operations, said he has a total of seven charter flights arriving in the afternoon, carrying about 1,600 passengers.

“We are going to be real busy, but we are looking forward to it and we have geared up for that,” he said.

There will be several hundred more beyond that from the airport’s regular arrivals on scheduled inbound flights.